Category: CPU coolers

Gelid Tranquillo 5 – the fifth revision of the legendary cooler

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Pavel Sekerka

Tranquillo coolers from Gelid Solutions have been very popular in the past for their solid cooling efficiency at an affordable price. Recently, the fifth revision of this cooler was launched, offering a change in overall design and featuring a matte black finish. Price-wise, however, the Gelid Tranquillo rev. 5 is a direct competitor to some very solid coolers of late and so I am very curious to see how it fares against them in today’s review. Read more “Gelid Tranquillo 5 – the fifth revision of the legendary cooler” »

SilentiumPC Navis F240 ARGB: A small AIO with a big potential

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Pavel Sekerka

At the end of April, SilentiumPC launched a pair of new AIO coolers from the Navis series. These are the F240 and F240 ARGB models, which differ only in RGB backlighting. Both of these coolers are equipped with Fluctus fans, so you can expect a pleasant acoustics as well as solid cooling effectiveness. Combined with a very attractive price tag, these coolers have the potential to become bestsellers in their class. Read more “SilentiumPC Navis F240 ARGB: A small AIO with a big potential” »

SilentiumPC Spartan 5 Max: Extra heatpipes for CPUs over 130 W

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

The SilentiumPC Spartan 5 cooler with the “Max” attribute differs from, say, the basic variant only by having twice as many heatpipes. So four instead of two. The other elements are the same, so naturally the question comes to how much the two added heatpipes, which the more expensive SPC cooler has in addition, will increase the cooling efficiency. By quite a bit, or by nothing at all – depending on the processor used. Read more “SilentiumPC Spartan 5 Max: Extra heatpipes for CPUs over 130 W” »

Akasa AK-CC6606BP01: A stronger alternative to the Laminar RM1

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

The database of results of inexpensive low-profile CPU coolers is slowly growing. We tested the largest of the top-flow models from Akasa on the Intel LGA 1700 platform.Given the claimed TDP of 125 W, it looks like this might not only be a replacement for the Laminar RM1 and RS1 that come with more economical processors, but also a solution for open multiplier models that don’t come with a cooler. Read more “Akasa AK-CC6606BP01: A stronger alternative to the Laminar RM1” »

Arctic Freezer 7 X rev. 3: The cooling legend that missed the boat

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

How many generations of processors could the Freezer 7 cool? The most. No other brand of coolers has been around for so long. That’s worthy of respect, but the fact remains that the progression in efficiency is rapid from revision to revision. Some improvements do come, but at a slower rate than competing solutions that are way more cost-effective. Thus, Freezer 7 often reaches the shelves of brick-and-mortar stores and PC builds only by inertia. Read more “Arctic Freezer 7 X rev. 3: The cooling legend that missed the boat” »

Noctua NH-D12L: A breath of fresh air for short twin-tower coolers

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Pavel Sekerka

Noctua has recently launched the Noctua NH-D12L, a fairly compact cooler with a height of just 145 millimetres. This makes it an ideal cooling solution for smaller cases, but also for servers with a height of 4U. Thanks to its interesting design and high-end fan, this cooler should offer very solid cooling effectiveness. But of course this assumption needs to be thoroughly verified, which is the aim of today’s article. Read more “Noctua NH-D12L: A breath of fresh air for short twin-tower coolers” »

Akasa 77 W cooler (AK-CC6603EP01) test for Intel LGA 1700

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

Akasa has been working for a long time on small and simple coolers to serve as a low-cost replacement for bundled solutions. This company was among the first to come out with support for Intel LGA 1700 and even with more options. In this test, we’ll be checking out the AK-CC6603EP01 mid-range model, which takes on not only the competing Arctic Alpine CO, but also both Intel Laminar coolers (RM1 and RS1). Read more “Akasa 77 W cooler (AK-CC6603EP01) test for Intel LGA 1700” »

Even Intel’s weakest box cooler (Laminar RS1) isn’t trash

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

We didn’t cover the Pentium G7400’s cooler in our tests, but we’ll fix that now. The Laminar RS1 also comes with the Celeron G6900, another economical processor whose demands are far exceeded by the box cooler. Also in this class there is an efficiency gain over the last generation, and the Laminar RS1 is more efficient than its predecessor with a copper core at the same noise level, which deserves increased attention. Read more “Even Intel’s weakest box cooler (Laminar RS1) isn’t trash” »

SilentiumPC Spartan 5: This much power is often all you need

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

Buying powerful coolers for CPUs with power draw below 100 W is throwing money out the window. This is proved by the test results of the inexpensive new SilentiumPC cooler – Spartan 5. Considering the price, this cooler is sovereignly the best choice for most AMD Ryzen and Intel Alder Lake processors without an open multiplier. That it will be better to pay more for the Fera 5? Incorrect theory, and even here, less is sometimes more. Read more “SilentiumPC Spartan 5: This much power is often all you need” »

Noctua NH-L9i-17xx: Only 37 mm tall and 65 W in silence

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

Very low profile, high cooling performance and Intel LGA 1700 support. These are demanding requirements that Noctua NH-L9i-17xx meets as one of the few coolers (maybe the only one?). The first two requirements could probably be argued about in others, but in the end it still comes down to the support for Intel’s new socket. Moreover, the NH-L9i-17xx outperforms even coolers twice its size, including the Arctic Alpine 17, with the right settings. Read more “Noctua NH-L9i-17xx: Only 37 mm tall and 65 W in silence” »

Arctic Alpine 17 CO: A classic that’s going to have a hard time

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

Alpine coolers are always cheap and are sold at prices below ten euros. Active models with fans can be seen as simple replacements for box coolers. However, while Intel has vastly improved the coolers supplied with Alder Lake CPUs between generations, the biggest change with the new Alpine 17 is the added LGA 1700 support. The difference in cooling performance over the Laminar RM1 has thus narrowed considerably. Read more “Arctic Alpine 17 CO: A classic that’s going to have a hard time” »

Intel Laminar RM1 box cooler test. Why (not) throw it away?

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

Coolers supplied with processors are treated with prejudice. Often they don’t even get a chance and are immediately replaced by something “better”. The new Intel Laminar RM1 cooler is improved in many ways and to give you the best image of it, we have compared it both with its predecessor and with the popular SilentiumPC Fera 5 cooler. Tests on a CPU with limited power draw or at full power? Both! Read more “Intel Laminar RM1 box cooler test. Why (not) throw it away?” »

Gammaxx vs. Castle – Battle of 360mm liquid coolers

Cooling, CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Pavel Sekerka

What is better than one liquid AIO cooler? Two liquid AIO coolers. Today it’s time for the Gammaxx L360 V2 and Castle 360RGB V2 coolers. Both are among the top of the range of AIO liquid coolers, both use 360mm radiators and both also feature Anti-Leak technology. However, our standardized noise methodology is generally very strict with AIO coolers. So I’m curious to see how Gammaxx and Castle perform in our stress tests. Read more “Gammaxx vs. Castle – Battle of 360mm liquid coolers” »

Gigantic retrotest of 80 CPU coolers (2005–2015)

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Ľubomír Samák

With all the hardware news, it’s good to stop and look back sometimes. In cooperation with the now-defunct ExtraHardware.cz magazine, we once created the biggest cooler comparison on the Internet. However, until now it has never been published in English. So finally. A large part of the coolers are still up-to-date (including Noctua NH-D15) but there are also some historical models such as Thermaltake Sonic Tower or the first Scythe Mugen. Read more “Gigantic retrotest of 80 CPU coolers (2005–2015)” »

SilentiumPC Fortis 5: Fera’s bigger and quieter brother on steroids

CPU coolers, Extra tests | | Pavel Sekerka

The SilentiumPC Fera 5 concept recently showed us how even a small cooler can be really efficient if the heatsink and fan optimization is done well. Today it’s the turn of the SilentiumPC Fortis 5, which is another iteration of SilentiumPC’s popular cooler, but now optimized in collaboration with Synergy Cooling. What’s more, today’s article is a straight triple test as we’ll be testing all three variants of the Fortis 5 cooler against each other. Read more “SilentiumPC Fortis 5: Fera’s bigger and quieter brother on steroids” »

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